


A Study in Eren

by intaspend



Category: Shingeki no Kyojin | Attack on Titan
Genre: Child Abuse, Child Neglect, Eren Snaps, Modern Setting, Murder, Purgatory, Reincarnation, This is written kinda weird no lie
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-05-28
Updated: 2019-05-28
Packaged: 2020-03-20 19:02:55
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,357
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18998635
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/intaspend/pseuds/intaspend
Summary: Eren is Seventeen today. There's a forest in his backyard, and he's the only one who can see it. Maybe there's something in there that will fill the void in his heart.





	A Study in Eren

There was a forest in Eren’s backyard. It was huge. There was just no other way to describe it. The trees were the absolute largest he had ever seen. And, in fact, he was the only one who had ever seen them.

Eren had given up asking other people about the trees a long time ago, and so the only one who really knew was his best friend David, who would often jump the fence to see Eren sitting on the porch and ask, “Staring at the trees again?” Eren would confirm, after which, David would shake his head and sit by him, staring at the same spot. Most of the time he would say, “Seriously man, all I see is a fence and the neighbors house, what is up with that?”

It had eventually faded from his father’s mind, and it wasn’t like he had much time to worry about Eren anyway. 

Neither of them were here today. It was just him.

He had never gone into the trees. Why would he? They were several times larger than his house, and he had no guarantee he could find his way back. That, and he didn’t want to embarrass himself by walking into the fence.

But it was his 17th birthday today, he had just gotten a black belt in his martial art, and most of all… He was lonely.

The forest called to him, and it felt like… It felt like he was waiting on someone who would get rid of the lonely feeling.

That was ridiculous though.

He stood up from where he was sitting on the porch, nodding to himself. He was ready. 

He took a step, then paused.

Nearly turned back even. After all, he hadn’t eaten. He could just grab a sandwich-

His feet, it turned out, decided for him. He stepped into the forest, and there was no fence in the way.

He glances back at his house, afraid for a moment that it will have disappeared behind him, but no. Still there.

He can hear birds, and chittering and other animal calls. The sun just barely comes through the canopy so far above him, but it’s warm and beautiful. He steps further into the forest, and he realizes there’s a bit of a dirt path under his feet- maybe animal migrations? So he doesn’t bother watching his feet too much, instead looking around at the amazing scenery.

He’d longed to do this for so long that it almost doesn’t feel real.

He keeps walking the path, he’s not sure for how long. The fatigue doesn’t bother him much, though he sort of wishes he’d worn pants instead of cargo shorts. His t-shirt is slightly chilly, but the patches of sun warm him up well enough, and there’s plenty of recognizable berries to munch on along the way. It’s about when he’s thinking of turning back, having no way to gauge the time, when his gaze is caught by a sunbeam.

His breath catches, his heart skips. It’s painful, so he puts a hand to his chest to try to relieve some of the pain. His eyes follow the sunbeam, all the way down to the root of a tree.

A man is standing there, bathed in the sun. He’s turned away, but his head is tilted upwards, looking at the sky. 

His clothes are dirty, and they look sort of handmade. A green cloak, riding boots, a device he can’t quite figure out the purpose of from this angle. His eyes land on the back of the cloak. His heart stops. 

He knows what that is, but he doesn’t know why.

He lets out a gasp.

Those are the _Wings of Freedom._

  


The man turns swiftly at his gasp, giving Eren a good look at his face, it looks young, haggard, familiar and extremely terrifying. His blood runs cold.

He takes a step back, ready to run.

Except- the man sees him. His expressions softens to one of, one of… kindness? He hops down from the root, and Eren can see that he’s holding some kind of triggers in each hand that are attached to his odd device.

He steps a bit closer before speaking.

“Eren? Did you get a haircut? It makes you look old.”

His voice is deep, and _familiar_ , and he almost smiles, he almost responds, and it’s almost too late.

But then, _“How do you know my name?”_

All the blood that froze in his veins is pumping at twice the speed now. It’s too far, and he can tell just by looking him in the eye, he could never outrun this man.

With absolute certainty, he knows. He’s looking into the eyes of a killer.

And those eyes narrow, and they look him over, taking in every inch. His eyes suddenly harden again, and all the warmth and camaraderie is gone. And he’s terrifying.

“Where did you come from?”

  


He shows the man. He doesn’t look back, too afraid that meeting the man’s eyes would lead to an untimely death. He doesn’t look back, but he can feel the man looking around, he’s on edge, like there’s some danger that’s not apparent to Eren. 

The walk feels much longer this time. Every step hurts, every breath is laced with fear. When he sees his house he nearly collapses. He turns to the man and points.

“There, that’s my house.”

The man looks at him oddly, and for a moment he’s afraid he can’t see it-

“Nice house.”

And he realizes the look isn’t one of concerned confusion, the one he’s used to seeing when he tells people about the border, here in his backyard. 

Instead, the man looks like he’s realized something. Eren can’t really read him. All of his expressions are so closed off, that even if he knew what they meant, it’s hard to say he could name them on his face.

“My Dad bought it with my Mom before I was born. Apparently they had enough saved up enough to buy it outright, which is ridiculous, but it’s a little rundown because Dad doesn’t have the money for a housekeeper on his own.”

He steps out of the forest into his yard, and is halfway to the porch before he realizes the man is still standing at the border to the forest. He seems to be hesitating to cross, but when he sees Eren looking he pretends that he was just stretching. He steps over without any more procrastination.

Eren lets the man inside, and with some prompting starts making him a cup of tea.

Why? No clue, but he does.

When Eren sits down, the man pulls his tea closer first.

“I’m Captain/Corporal Levi Ackerman, it doesn’t matter which you call me the title is mostly symbolic, and I’m dead. Or, I died.”

There were three things that shocked Eren about that statement. The first was that the man- Levi, had actually said the slash out loud without saying slash, and he has no idea how he did it. The second was that the name Ackerman was world famous, a historical landmark somewhat like the pyramids except there was actual proof of the pyramids.

The third was obvious.

“You.. died?”

“So did you.”

“Sorry, what?”

The man- again, Levi, for some reason he can’t get that to stick- seems perfectly comfortable in the chair, leaning back. He holds his tea cup weird. He doesn’t seem distressed, or particularly convincing even. He looked like he was stating a fact, a fact that was immovable. 

“I knew you. Watched you die-” He takes another drink of tea,”I felt myself die. Then I found myself in the titan forest, which couldn’t have been real given that there were no titans. That, and no matter how loud the wildlife was, I never saw any.”

“Wait, titans are real?!”

Levi sets his cup down.

“If I’m correct, they aren’t anymore. The survey corp would have wiped them out after we both died.”

“The survey corp-?”

A knock interrupts them. Firm, but not pounding. Not a religion or a neighbor then.

“Sorry, I should probably get that. You should stay here, I’m not sure how I’d explain your clothes.”

Levi scowls a little, but Eren is already headed toward the door before he gets the chance to say anything back. Eren is correct anyway. 

Eren pulls the door open part way, jamming his foot in the door and blocking the rest of the house with his body.

It’s a blonde guy, terrible haircut. His knock sounded confident, but he looks nervous.

“Hello sir, I’m Armin Arlet and-”

“Not interested. Busy.”

Eren shuts the door in his face and locks it. The guy was his age calling him sir, what a dweeb. No way was he going to hear him out. He scoffs and heads back toward the table.

“You don’t know Armin?”

Eren jumps nearly a foot in the air, yelling in shock.

The man was really fucking quiet!

“No, I don’t know that dweeb, why, he someone else you knew?”

Eren was never much of a big fan of religion, but when the man who came out of his non-existent forest starts telling him reincarnation is a thing he’s sure as hell going to believe it.

“No, you did. He was the brains to your dunderheaded passion, and Mikasa was the brawn. Where is she anyway, I figured she would have come down by now to glare holes in me for standing within five feet of you.”

Eren shrugs, “I don’t know a Mikasa.”

Levi is silent for a long moment.

“Grisha and Carla Jaeger?”

“Mom and Dad.”

“Hanje Zoe?”

“The quack doctor that delivered me.”

“Erwin Smith.”

“Richest guy this side of the Atlantic”

“Jean?”

“Asshole.”

“Connie?”

“Who?”

“Petra, and the other two?”

“I don’t know who those are, but I’ll assume no to all three.”

“Historia, Ymir?”

“Who the fuck names their kids that?”

“Annie, Bertolt, Reiner?”

“Oh yeah, the Marley triplets! They moved away in grade school, I haven’t seen them in years.”

He’s silent for a long moment.

“You wouldn’t happen to know an Isabel with red hair, or a Farlen?”

His tone is even more even than before, as if he could care less.

Something gives Eren the feeling he cares more.

“I think my Mom was friends with an Isabel. As for Farlen…”

The name sounded familiar, but he couldn’t quite place it, “I think he might be an actor or something.”

A lot of tension seems to leave the man, though his guarded expression doesn’t change much.

“You said that you were a part of the survey corp. That’s sort of an Urban legend in this day and age, are you saying that I was a part of that?”

Levi leans up against the stairwell, he nods, “You were. I’m sure you went down in history books.”

Eren sits down on the floor. He’s not sure he should stand for much more of this conversation.

Levi kneels down next to him. His expression softened, and it’s unreadable to Eren. v 

It’s unreadable because no one looks at Eren like that, so he must be wrong. Eren only gets spiteful looks, or quick glances. Or they never even look at him, just ask him for dinner brought to his office without ever glancing his way.

No one ever looks at him like this. Soft and steady, unwavering and sure.

Levi reaches out a hand, it lightly touches his cheek. Electricity shoots through him. He’s heard that’s from touch starvation but he can’t quite bring himself to care.

Of course, Eren doesn’t have the sort of luck that would allow this moment to go uninterrupted. Levi leans in a little. He’s so close, he starts to speak, “Eren, you-”

And that’s when his Dad comes home.

Maybe it wouldn’t have been so bad if they hadn’t been in a weird position, or if Levi hadn’t put one of his weird swords _Anti-Titan weaponry_ to his Dad’s throat. But both of those things happened, so he’d never know. Or maybe it was Eren, grabbing onto Levi’s arm, shouting “Captain, No! That’s my Dad.” Levi drops his sword, but it’s too late. Eren can tell, he can always tell. His Dad is angry.

“What the hell is going on?!”

That voice, he hates that voice.

“Who are you, and what are you doing in my house?”

“Mr. Jaeger-”

“Don’t you Mr. Jaeger me young man!-”

He wants it to stop.

“How old are you? What are you doing with my son? And you!”

He whirls on Eren. His hand goes up in a familiar motion.

He wants to be free.

“You know better than to let strange men in the house! You know what could have happened to you!”

He feels the sting of the slap almost before it connects.

What does he care? He’s never around. He’s always at work or god knows where, coming home smelling of booze or candles or amusement parks. Looking much happier to have been somewhere without Eren.

Why does he take this?

Another slap, “Are you even listening to me?!”

His eyes catch Levi’s hand dropping to his side. What was he-? Why wasn’t he stopping this? 

His eyes meet Levi’s. Levi is watching him. His eyes look curious, assessing. He’s waiting to see what Eren will do. 

Eren snaps.

He pounces.

His hands wrap around something and he squeezes and he doesn’t stop until the loud thumping in his ears dies.

When he comes back to his senses his Dad is dead on the floor.

Levi offers him a hand. He takes it.

Levi leads him out of the house, and into the forest. It’s peaceful there.

  


He wakes up.

It’s his seventeenth birthday. He got a blackbelt in his martial art a few days ago. He’s seen a forest in his backyard since he was a kid, and today’s the day he’s finally going to enter it.

You see, no one cares about him here, but he gets the odd feeling that he can’t shake, that there’s someone in there that does.

**Author's Note:**

> This is honestly not what I intended to write next, but the scene where Eren finds Levi in the forest wouldn't leave me alone, and I managed to make it short enough that I actually finished it. Honestly I don't think this is my best work, but maybe the tone fits the mood I was going for? I don't know, this was really experimental for me so let me know what you think.


End file.
